Tucker Hermans
Ph.D. Robotics, 2014
Advisors: Jim Rehg and Aaron Bobick
University of Utah • Website
What led you to choose an academic career rather than one in industry?
I chose a career in academia so that I could work closely with student researchers and focus on the robotics problems that most excite me. I now have the opportunity to train aspiring roboticists in my classes and, more excitingly, as a research advisor to Ph.D. students. Each morning that I walk into my lab, I get to choose fundamental robot-manipulation questions to investigate, absent any immediate commercial constraints. This means we can devote the right amount of time and resources to issues that often have a humanitarian angle—for instance, how can robots help a rapidly graying population age in home. Thanks to this combination of inquisitive students and research flexibility, I’ve explored new research directions I likely would’ve missed or avoided in industrial settings. More Q & A with Tucker»
Maya Cakmak
Ph.D. Robotics, 2012
Advisor: Andrea Thomaz
University of Washington • Website
What advice would you give to new Ph.D. students in robotics at Georgia Tech who want to pursue an academic career?
First advice would be to acknowledge to yourself that you might want an academic career. I hear many prospective or new grads saying “What are the odds?’” citing the competitive nature of the academic job market. An academic career does not necessarily mean a tenure-track position at a top-10 R1 institution; it can take many forms and shapes that are no less valuable to society. Although I was very fortunate to get a dream academic position, I was not going to just give up if I didn’t. I was very much willing to go to a smaller college or move to a different country for it. Second advice would be to find a societal problem you are truly passionate about and connect your research to it. That passion will keep you going through the ups and downs of research. There is so much research that is done because it is “cool” or “challenging,” or because it improves upon previous performance without questioning why it matters. More Q & A with Maya»
Marc Killpack
Ph.D. Robotics, 2013
Advisor: Charles Kemp
Brigham Young University • Website
How did the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech prepare you for your career path in academia?
I think the sheer size of the program at Georgia Tech and seeing the different management and research styles of each professor was a great blessing to me. It helped me to see how different research groups functioned and how I might want to organize and run my own group. I also am extremely grateful to Dr. Kemp who gave me the opportunity to be involved in the grant writing process, which was essential to our group receiving a NASA Early Career Faculty grant when I first started at BYU. More Q & A with Marc»
Matthew Hale
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 2017
Advisor: Magnus Egerstedt
University of Florida • Website
What led you to choose an academic career rather than one in industry?
I ultimately decided to pursue an academic career because there were just too many problems I wanted to work on. My time at Georgia Tech was very interesting and stimulating, and although I had answered a few of the research questions I’d wanted to answer, those answers only led to more questions, and I couldn’t picture myself doing anything other than working on these new problems. Apart from the research itself, I like the environment of a university because it lets me spend my time around hardworking people, and now I’m able to do that full time. More Q & A with Matthew»
Wencen Wu
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 2013
Advisor: Fumin Zhang
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute • Website
How did the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech prepare you for your career path in academia?
- Georgia Tech provides a wide range of graduate level courses that Ph.D. students can choose from.
- The seminars, workshops, and invited talks on campus offer great opportunities for students to learn the state-of-the-art advances in robotics and to interact with experts and professors in the robotics area.
- I got the chance to work with world-renowned professors and have some of them on my Ph.D. committee. More Q & A with Wencen»
Girish Chowdhary
Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering, 2010
Advisor: Eric Johnson
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Website
What led you to choose an academic career rather than one in industry?
Academia allows me the freedom of choosing what I wanted to do in my career, what problems I wanted to work on, and at what level of abstraction. I am very much interested in crossing disciplinary boundaries, and this is the type of research that is typically high-risk, high-reward. Ann academic career is the right venue for those who want to go beyond the boundaries. More Q & A with Girish»
Barış Akgün
Ph.D. Robotics, 2015
Advisor: Andrea Thomaz
Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey • Website
What led you to choose an academic career rather than one in industry?
I have always enjoyed learning and discovering new things. I think academia is one of the best places to do this freely. It makes you a perpetual learner and lets you be a part of the knowledge generation process. Certain jobs in industry would also give you similar opportunities—potentially with more resources—but in academia, you are free to pursue your own imagination and interests. In addition, an academic job gives you an opportunity to always be near young minds, to be challenged by them, and to direct them. More Q & A with Barış»
Amy LaViers
Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, 2013
Advisor: Magnus Egerstedt
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign • Website
What advice would you give to new Ph.D. students in robotics at Georgia Tech who want to pursue an academic career?
Figure out what makes you — a specific person with a specific set of unique experiences — excited. As important as it is to read academic papers from others, which is a huge part of graduate school, it’s a nontrivial task to figure out your own interests. My own research seems like a caricature, sometimes, of that idea, where I took a life of dance lessons, rehearsals, and performances and made them part of my research. But, no matter your area of work, there’s an intersection between that and something unique about what makes you tick — and it’s not going to be written on the blackboard on the first day of class. Notice what gets you excited and move in that direction, over and over. More Q & A with Amy»
Michael Kaess
Ph.D. Computer Science, 2008
Advisor: Frank Dellaert
Carnegie Mellon University • Website
What have you learned since becoming a professor that you wish you’d known while still a student?
Grades during the Ph.D. program really don’t matter that much. Of course you need to do well enough to pass, and you certainly want to learn as much as possible in your classes. But don’t be too focused on doing well in exams. Rather, spend the time on research. Nobody will look at your grades after you get your Ph.D. More Q & A with Michael»
Chen Li
Ph.D. Physics, 2011
Advisor: Dan Goldman
Johns Hopkins University • Website
How did the Ph.D. program at Georgia Tech prepare you for your career path in academia?
My training with Dan Goldman gave me a great start of my scientific career. I found what I was passionate about and learned how to do good experimental, interdisciplinary research from him. It was also a great fortune to have been able to work closely and learn from many wonderful fellow students and collaborators with diverse background (physics, bio/mechanical/electrical engineering, biology, etc.). More Q & A with Chen»
